Will COVID-19 have any "aftereffects"? Experts explain and tell you!

According to statistics from the World Health Organization, there are currently more than 500 Omicron substrains circulating around the world, but they generally have similar characteristics, namely, weaker toxicity, greater infectivity and immune escape capabilities.

As epidemic prevention policies are gradually optimized in various places, people may be worried about whether there will be sequelae if they are infected with the new coronavirus. What are the sequelae of the new coronavirus?

What are “post-COVID sequelae”?

COVID-19 sequelae (COVID-19 sequelae) is also known as COVID-19 long-term symptoms. What we call "COVID-19 sequelae" is not the same as "sequelae" in the traditional sense.

According to the clinical case definition published by the World Health Organization in October 2021, COVID-19 sequelae usually occur within 3 months after the onset of COVID-19 infection. It can be the appearance of certain new symptoms after recovery from acute infection, or the persistence of certain symptoms from the original acute infection period, which last for at least 2 months. These symptoms can occur repeatedly and cannot be explained by other diagnoses.

What are the symptoms of “post-COVID sequelae”?

At the video conference of the "Chinese Medical Association Respiratory Medicine Annual Meeting-2022" held at 8 am on December 9, Academician Zhong Nanshan delivered a report entitled "New Coronavirus Omicron Epidemic Dynamics and Response".

In the report, Academician Zhong Nanshan pointed out that compared with the Delta strain, the Omicron strain has a lower risk of causing COVID-19 sequelae, and the probability of infected people experiencing common symptoms (including loss of taste/smell, cough, fever, shortness of breath, myalgia, fatigue/weakness and headache) is reduced, but the proportion of sore throat has increased.

Distribution Group

A large Scottish cohort study showed that asymptomatic infected people basically had no sequelae of COVID-19. Symptomatic infected people have a higher risk of sequelae, and there is no significant correlation between asymptomatic infection and sequelae. At the same time, patients who were vaccinated before infection had a reduced risk of sequelae, such as a 42% reduction in the risk of olfactory impairment; a 39% reduction in the risk of taste impairment; a 40% reduction in the risk of hearing impairment; and a 29% reduction in the risk of anxiety or depression.

Expert interpretation

Zhong Nanshan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and famous respiratory disease scientist:

There is a strict medical definition of sequelae, which refers to the lifelong damage caused by the disease. Some symptoms caused by COVID-19 will gradually disappear, and we do not call them sequelae. I have not seen any particularly obvious cases of long-term organ dysfunction.

Omicron (BA.4/5, BF7) infection is not scary, 99% of cases can fully recover within 7-10 days , and the focus should be on preventing and controlling severe cases (self-protection, designated hospitals, and protection of medical staff).

Professor Chong Yutian from the Department of Infectious Diseases, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University:

For those infected with COVID-19, some people may have long-lasting clinical symptoms, such as loss of taste and smell, joint pain, memory loss, chest pain, cough, etc. Some scholars call these "long COVID-19". Chong Yutian believes that these cannot be classified as "sequelae of COVID-19". "At present, the academic community has not confirmed that COVID-19 has sequelae. At least there is no evidence that there are sequelae."

Tong Zhaohui, Vice President of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University and Director of Beijing Institute of Respiratory Diseases:

At present, the research on post-COVID symptoms at home and abroad is aimed at the previous original strains, including Delta. After all, Omicron occurred in a relatively short period of time. At present, it should be said that there is no observation of post-COVID symptoms of Omicron in China. But you can think about it. More than 90% of Omicron are asymptomatic and mild, and its symptoms are mainly manifested in the upper respiratory tract, such as low-to-moderate fever, cough, sore throat, and then it will be fine in 5 or 7 days. From common sense, there should be no sequelae, because it is in the upper respiratory tract and does not affect the organs and tissues in our body . At least there is no relevant literature at home and abroad to support this statement.

Finally, let’s learn how to prevent the epidemic scientifically!

Feel free to forward this to everyone you care about, and let’s fight the epidemic together!